In August
2007, five members of a notorious criminal gang were convicted of murdering
Igor Domnikov, a reporter and special-projects editor with the independent,
Moscow-based newspaper Novaya Gazeta. They were sentenced to prison terms
varying from 18 years to life for the Domnikov slaying and numerous other
crimes. The convictions are the only ones obtained in the work-related murder
of a journalist in Russia since 2000, according to CPJ research.

The verdicts
followed years of work by Domnikov’s colleagues, who meticulously investigated
the murder and doggedly lobbied for prosecution of the suspects. Novaya
Gazeta
staffers and Domnikov’s representatives talked to witnesses, police, and
suspects to advance the investigation, digging out information and following
the trail left by Domnikov’s articles. Though satisfied that the killers are
behind bars, these colleagues are now pushing for the prosecution of those
alleged to have ordered the murder of Domnikov in May 2000. If successful, the
newspaper would help establish an important precedent in fighting impunity in
journalist murders in Russia—by bringing both assassins and masterminds to
justice.

Although Novaya
Gazeta
is known for hard-nosed investigative reporting, Domnikov, 42, built his reputation
on the cutting wit and acerbic tone that he brought to profiles and features.
“His articles were spirited and spun with talent,” a colleague, Vyacheslav
Izmailov, said. “Tired of all that criminality, Novaya’s readers
would allow themselves to catch their breath and wind down with Igor’s
publications.”

In the months
before his death, Domnikov took special interest in the Lipetsk regional
administration in western Russia. In 1999 and 2000, he wrote five first-person
pieces highly critical of Gov. Oleg Korolyov and his finance deputy, Sergei
Dorovskoi. He accused the regional government of driving farmers into
bankruptcy by not stimulating the agricultural sector; engaging in nepotism;
failing to control violent crime; and allowing the population to wallow in
poverty while top officials drew high salaries.

In one
article, Domnikov used his sardonic style as a rapier against Dorovskoi,
accusing the deputy of cozying up to Lipetsk businesses and using his office to
benefit family and friends. Domnikov ended his piece by calling for an official
investigation into the deputy’s actions.

Sergei
Sokolov, Novaya Gazeta deputy editor, said that the content of
that and other articles probably irritated regional officials, but it was
Domnikov’s acid style that really offended them. Domnikov, for instance, mocked
the deputy governor for authorizing ice cream stand sales without the use of
cash registers. “Even those who don’t know a lot about trade in Russia will
raise their eyebrows, unbutton the top of their shirts, and say after a moment
of silence, ‘Wow, such a daring guy! I bet you he will be the boss in prison.’”

So insulted was Dorovskoi, Novaya Gazeta reported, citing its own research and investigators’ records, that he
allegedly enlisted a business associate, Pavel Sopot, to bring Domnikov back to
Lipetsk so they could talk. The conversation between Sopot and Dorovskoi took
place in April 2000, a month before the attack, according to Novaya Gazeta’s Izmailov, who
interviewed Sopot. “Civilized persons seek redress for their hurt honor and
dignity by filing a defamation claim in court or writing to the prosecutor,”
Izmailov said in a July 14, 2005, Novaya Gazeta article. “But Dorovskoi
chose a different approach.”

Sopot, Novaya Gazeta said, was a longtime friend and a former business partner of Eduard
Tagiryanov, the now-imprisoned head of Tagiryanovskiye—a well-organized,
heavily armed, and highly efficient criminal group blamed for more than 20
murders, eight kidnappings, and a number of other crimes across Russia.
Tagiryanovskiye were based in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny in the
west-central republic of Tatarstan. Sopot used to live in Naberezhnye Chelny,
and, though he had moved to Moscow several years earlier, retained his ties
with Tagiryanov, Novaya Gazeta said. “Did the sole fact that [Sopot] lived in Moscow prompt Dorovskoi
to approach him with this request (or order?) or did Dorovskoi know of Sopot’s,
let’s say, special connections?” Izmailov wrote.

Sopot told
Izmailov—in a tape-recorded conversation—that two weeks after his April 2000
visit with Dorovskoi, he met Tagiryanov at a Moscow restaurant and asked him
for advice on how to handle journalists. Tagiryanov’s gang, as it turned out,
did more than give advice.

Whether or not
events went exactly as Novaya Gazeta described, what happened next is beyond
dispute.

On May 12,
2000, around 8 p.m., at least one assailant attacked Domnikov in the entrance
of his Moscow apartment building, bashing him on the head with a hammer. The
bloodied weapon, wrapped in a cloth, was later found near the crime scene, NovayaGazeta reported,
citing forensic records. A neighbor found Domnikov bleeding and barely
conscious and called an ambulance. The journalist was hospitalized and
underwent surgery, but he fell into a two-month-long coma and died on July 16
of head injuries. He never regained consciousness.

More than six
years and 124 volumes of investigative material later, the trial of 16
Tagiryanovskiye started in Supreme Court in Kazan, the regional capital of
Tatarstan. Among the 23 murders for which the gang members were charged was
that of Igor Domnikov. In an article published September 7, 2006, three days
after proceedings opened, Novaya Gazeta thanked the
investigators, prosecutors, and police officers who had worked on the case.
Noting that it “often rebukes our law enforcement agencies for their
shiftlessness and corruptibility,” the paper said the prosecution was a
“significant achievement” by “wonderful professionals” who had risked their
lives in pursuit of justice.

A year later, on August 26, 2007, Judge Ildus Gataulin convicted five
defendants in the Domnikov murder and several other crimes, sentencing each to
a lengthy prison term. (The 11 other defendants were also convicted and jailed
for crimes that included murder, kidnapping, extortion, and robbery.) Albert
Khuzin, charged with striking Domnikov with a hammer, received 25 years behind
bars. Gennady Bezuglov, accused of planning the logistics of the crime, got 18
years. Gang leader Eduard Tagiryanov was sentenced to life in prison for his
role in the killing and other crimes. Two other Tagiryanovskiye—Sergei Babkov
and Nikolai Kazakov—were convicted of conducting surveillance of Domnikov
before the attack. Babkov was sentenced to life and Kazakov to 19 years. All
are serving their terms in a high-security prison colony, according to press
reports.

So what made
this case different from so many others in which the prosecution failed? For
one, the Domnikov killing was part of a much larger, years-long crime spree
committed by one of the bloodiest organized crime groups in Russia. Across the
law enforcement bureaucracy, there was a strong commitment to move aggressively
against the group. But Novaya Gazeta, with the help of press freedom groups,
also worked long and hard to keep the case in the spotlight. Karen Nersisian, a
former lawyer for the Domnikov family, said public awareness remains a powerful
tool in the fight against impunity.

If pleased by
the convictions,Novaya Gazeta was nonetheless critical of Tatarstan
prosecutors for not opening a criminal case against Sopot and Dorovskoi. Both
men gave pretrial statements to investigators, and Sopot testified during the
proceedings.Prosecutors
considered the men witnesses in the case and did not allege any criminal
wrongdoing.

In an August 29, 2007, commentary, Novaya
Gazeta special correspondent Yelena Milashina insisted that
investigators had given in to political pressure in declining to pursue the
inquiry further. Sokolov, Novaya Gazeta’s deputy editor, told CPJ that the paper, along with Domnikov’s family
and their lawyers, filed appeals seeking a criminal investigation into Sopot
and Dorovskoi.

Prosecutors and investigators at both regional and national levels rebuffed
each request, Sokolov told CPJ.

But
persistence finally yielded some results. On April 17, 2009, almost nine years
after Domnikov’s death, Novaya Gazeta received word
from the Investigative Committee in the Central Federal District that it had
opened a criminal inquiry into Sopot at the direction of top Investigative
Committee officials. The new probe does not include Dorovskoi, who left
politics to run a meat-processing plant and several other businesses in
Lipetsk. The Investigative Committee did not respond to CPJ’s written request
for comment on its decision.

In the interview with Novaya Gazeta, published September 7, 2006, Sopot said he did not believe his
conversation with the gang leader would result in Domnikov’s killing. He told
the paper: “If I said something about you to someone and then something
happened to you—would that really be my fault?” Dorovskoi has not publicly
addressed questions about the case. CPJ attempted to contact him though his
meat-processing business but did not receive a reply. Tagiryanov, the gang
leader, did not implicate either man in the slaying, said Nersisian, lawyer for
the journalist’s family.

The decision
to investigate Sopot came four days after President Dmitry Medvedev met with Novaya
Gazeta
Editor Dmitry Muratov and gave the newspaper an exclusive interview.
Presidential press secretary Natalia Timakova described Medvedev’s gesture as a
way of expressing “moral support” for the publication.

Novaya
Gazeta staffers remain skeptical. “I would not start talking about
any positive results yet,” Sokolov told CPJ. “A criminal case can be closed
just as easily as it was opened.”